Proud Parents

All I can say is that the hubster and I overreact a ton when it comes to Baby Girl.

Last night at dinner, she used a spoon and put it in her mouth.  Nothing on the spoon, just an empty spoon.  I was so overcome that I had tears prickling in my eyes.  I look over and the Hubster is wiping away tear!  So sweet, BUT

It's a using a spoon.  It's not rocket science, lol.

Imagine what's going to happen when she does something amazing, like take her first steps.  We are all going to lose out shit!

Things I've Learned

Warning: this is about baby poop.

Baby Girl has started to eat solids and now doesn't poop every day.  That's fine by me, but not by my mom.  She insists that Baby Girl should be pooping every single day.  I don't even poop every single day.

She's been going pretty consistently on every 4th day which from Dr. Google is completely normal.  Up to a week is still normal!  So what have I learned from all of this?

A sure fire way to get your kiddo to poop is put them in nice clothes (i.e. not Carter's footed pajamas) and go out with an agenda.  Case in point: I went to the mall to buy some new pants.  I dressed Baby Girl to match me and guess what?  She had the mother of all poops on the way to the mall and I didn't notice until we were in the dressing room of Nordstrom.

Diaper change in Nordstrom!  I thought I was going to run out of wipes.  It was gross.

Also every time I tell my mom that Baby Girl has pooped, she always responds with "She is happy now" without fail.  I didn't know bowel movements were the key factor in happiness.

Everyone Needs A Baby

You know how most new parents are always telling other people to have babies as soon as possible and are always pushing the baby agenda on others?  I secretly think it's not because they love babies now that they have one of their own.  It's really more like they want others to be as exhausted as they are so they can commiserate together.


Misery loves company, right?


PS I love my baby and the exhaustion is worth it.

Someone Please Take My Money

I've spent the majority of the day trying to find someone to take my money.  I went to the mall and have spent an embarrassing amount of time online shopping to not have purchased one thing for myself.  I don't count the outfits I bought Baby Girl.  Her clothes are so cheap compared to mine, it's like spending Monopoly money.

Since April, I have bought nothing but nursing related clothes (bras and tanks) and new underwear.  That's it!  I also don't count clothes purchased for costumes.

Struck out at Nordstroms, Free People, Anthropologie, Gap, Banana Republic.  Well there is a dress at Anthro that I want, but I refuse to pay for shipping.  $10.95 is pretty steep to try something on.

My back up purchase are some new shorts from Lululemon, but I already own the same pair and that's not real clothes that I can wear to work or some place other than the gym or grocery store.

Please help.

Bad Mom

Baby Girl had some bloody poo and we took her to see the doctor. The night before I googled it to see what we could expect to hear. The search results yielded anal fissure and dairy sensitivity. 

I was really rooting for anal fissure because I don't want to give up dairy. 😂

Well I was wrong and have cut out dairy for almost two weeks. It's hard! I eat a lot of cheese 🧀

Denial

I am in utter denial that Baby Girl no longer fits into her newborn or 0-3 month clothes. 😢

She's growing by that measure, but she still looks the same to me. So weird.

I'm a little sad that she's not my little peanut anymore. And by that I mean, she's a normal sized baby. She's in her 3-6 months clothes when she started out barely fitting into newborn. I guess my breastmilk is doing something right or she's just a little piggie 🐽 lol

Oh, the irony

My mom has been on my case about limiting Baby Girl's exposure to the outdoors. Like non-stop! But she got her first bug bite while in the care of my mom!

HA!

Growing so much, but not too much

I realized today while changing Baby Girl's diaper that I had dressed her in her coming home from hospital outfit. She's almost outgrown the onesie and the pants are a much better fit. It's a good reminder that I need to save the onesie and not donate it!

Look at the difference!

And then there was one

One parent that is.

The hubster left this morning on a 6 day trip leaving me alone with Baby Girl for the first time ever!  I can't say I'm not nervous or on the verge of a breakdown, but I've had 12 weeks of parenting.  I should be ready for this, right?

I mean tons of single moms do it from day one...

Math and Time PSA

In case you didn't know,

1 hour and 15 minutes does not equal 1.15 hours

That is all.

Thank you.

Running Rewards

I've been running almost every other day since I was cleared at my 6 week post partum doctor's visit.  I'm not running for very long because I've got the baby with me and running with a stroller is a lot harder than running solo.

I just hit my pre-pregnancy weight and by pre-pregnancy, the weight my doctor used as my baseline which was probably 2 months in, so not pre-pre-pregnancy weight just yet, but close!

I'm a firm believer in rewards.  Before becoming pregnant, food was my reward.  Since I'm trying to lose weight and not just maintain, I reward myself with a shower!  I usually shower every other day because #momlife and they usually coincide with runs.  If I don't get a run in, I don't withhold it.  Ewww because that would be gross.  No instead, I use all my fancy smancy bath products in my after run showers.  Lush body scrubs, peppermint foot scrub, Avene toner, Caudalie face mist, Chanel body lotion, the works.  Non-run showers get Cetaphil and Lubriderm.

Just a few more pounds...

Hubster = Toddler

In so many way, but today's post is about his eating habits.

I honestly don't know how he is still alive.  There is nothing green in his diet.  Though he claims to eat green beans, but that's like 6 times a year.  I don't think that counts.  His diet is seriously like a toddlers, maybe even worse, but what's also peculiar is that he only eats whole Triscuits.

Not like whole grain Triscuits, but whole unbroken Triscuits.  I've found a number of opened boxes of Triscuits that are about 90% consumed.  The common trend?  They are all broken Triscuits.

It's like the kid who only eats crustless sandwiches cut into triangles.

So guess who is stuck eating the broken ones?  I'll have two children to deal with soon enough.

Nipples

Not mine!

My brother and his wife bought this blanket for Baby Girl for Christmas while she was still in utero. It was super cute in its original packaging. It was rolled up and looked like a bear. You can kind of still see the bear, but when I look at it, it looks like dog nipples with a face...

It's kinda creepy. 

Group Overload

Prior to having Baby Girl, I was part of two or three Facebook groups - all lacrosse related.  Since Baby Girl's arrival, I have joined 17 Facebook groups! SEVENTEEN! 17!

I've joined four San Diego Mom groups, one for Poway, two breastfeeding groups, one carseat group, four babywearing groups, one cloth diaper group, two baby development/sleep groups, and one postpartum group!

I need to stop joining groups or else I'll spend all my time reading posts on Facebook.  I catch myself reading when I should be interacting with Baby Girl.

Damn You, Target

I cannot stay away.  It's a sickness.  Cartwheel doesn't help either or the 5% discount using the Target card.  It's like I find deals on Cartwheel and then I have to go to Target.  Once there, I find shit I don't need, but still buy.

Don't get me started on Target clearance.  In the past week, I've bought another activity mat (to keep at my mom's house when she starts watching Baby Girl full time), two pairs of pants for Baby Girl, hooded baby bath towel, and long sleeved, footed pajamas!  I justify everything by saying she will need them eventually.

Eventually, we will be bathing her every day and this bath towel will put us at 4.
Eventually, it will be cold enough for pants and long sleeved footed pajamas.

At least clearance baby items are significantly cheaper than clearance Elaine clothes.

All baby, all the time

Pre-baby, I noticed that once my friends had a baby, it was like that's all said friend could put on their social media. I've fallen into the same trap, but not because I'm obsessed with my baby, but because I don't do anything but take care of my baby. I wish I had something other than baby related pictures and posts, but I am stuck in an eternal 3 hour cycle revolving around my baby. So it's not because I've changed, but my circumstances have changed. I guess I can't wait to go back to work to do something other than baby. Or be able to go out to a nice meal and take some more food pictures or just do something interesting that goes beyond monitoring poop color or being attached to my pump or cleaning up spit up...

You can't spoil a newborn

That's just one of the things I have heard. Also newborns aren't manipulative. And by manipulative, they cry for no reason. 

I question that last one. I'm currently holding my baby to sleep and I swear to god that after I picked her up and settled down into the chair, she opened her eyes and gave me the most devious and cutest smile. A smile that says "You just got played" or "You're my bitch" or "Sucker". Very self satisfying smile. I'm keeping my eye on you!!!

Exfoliation

Ever since giving birth, Ive put undue pressure on myself to get back to my pre-pregnancy body.  I know that logically it took me 10 months to put on the weight, I should give myself that much time to take it off.  If you know me,  I'm impatient and need results now.  It's not just the weight though.  My skin is what's giving me grief now.  I know it'll take some time to get back to normal, but it just doesn't feel the same.  It's not just loose, but different.

I read that exfoliating will help it bounce back, so before seeing a movie with the hubster, we stopped at Lush where I probably spent too much money on two tubs of exfoliating products:  Rub Rub Rub and Ocean Salt.  I use Rub Rub Rub every day  and has replaced my Dove bar and I use Ocean Salt once a week as I feel it does a bit more exfoliating than the other.  I really like how the Rub^3 leaves my skin feeling and smelling.

Taking a shower is one of my escapes as of late and if this makes it even more luxurious and decadent, then I think it's worth the extra money.

Treat yo'self!

Breathing Easier

The hubster and I had some very good friends come and visit us for a long weekend.  It was amazing, exactly what I needed.  They brought a sense of normalcy back into my life and just for a moment, I could breathe a little easier.

Just knowing that there was no judgement from my friends and that they were willing to take a crying, screaming baby and soothe her until she fell asleep was just priceless, really no words can describe it.  I don't get that sense of relief when my mom or the hubster are there for me.  Even if they are holding Baby Girl, I know that I need to be ready to be tagged back in, but with my friend, she had it covered from start to finish.  That's what a safety net feels like.

While my one friend covered the baby front, the other had me covered.  She made sure I could be myself and find myself again.  Their dual efforts really just brought me out of my postpartum rut.  They just left and I'm overwhelmingly sad.  I'll miss them so much.

Learning to let go

Of control, that is.

I'm a planner and live and die by a schedule.  Having a baby has taught me or is in the process of teaching me to let go and be more flexible.

Several friends recommended the book, Babywise, to me.  It's basically a guide to help your baby sleep throughout the night and has an emphasis on scheduled feedings with a little parent intuition rather than feeding on demand.

Anyway, you'd think it'd be right up my alley,  but babies give zero fucks about schedule.  I tried so hard and stressed so much that Baby Girl was not staying on schedule and wouldn't nap for long enough.  I felt like such a failure that the formula of Eat, Wake, Sleep was not working for me.  One and a half hour naps were only lasting 45 minutes for me.  I was timing naps and playtime and feedings and it was driving me crazy and adding to my stress.  I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, but you know what?  All babies are different.

For my own sanity, I had to stop.  If she's only napping for 45 minutes, I should be glad she got that nap in.  If it takes me 30 minutes of crying to get her to sleep, then it's ok.  If I'm creating sleep habits and sleep associations, I'll deal with breaking them later.  Right now, I'm only concerned that she is happy, gaining weight, and generally healthy.

*breathes in*
*exhales*